Spring: artichokes, swallows and wisteria

A look at Japan's 72 (!) micro-seasons plus a mixed bag of links

Spring has sprung, it is in the air and it is everywhere — you can finally see it in the crates of broad beans in the markets and the wisteria bursting out of gardens, even the little flowers, the wild purple hyacinth (you can eat the bulbs, did you know, in Puglia they’re known as lampascioni) and the yellow buttercups peppering the grass.

Just in this …